FAQs General

Kompoz is an online music collaboration platform. Kompoz allows musicians from all around the world to collaborate online to create new original music. Sign up for free. Use GarageBand, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Studio One, REAPER or any other audio software to record your ideas, then upload them to Kompoz. Invite your friends to collaborate, or meet new friends across the world.

With Kompoz, you can create songs with a bass player in Stockholm, a drummer in Nashville, and a guitar player in Kalamazoo. Crowdsource music production with our cloud-based workspace tools.

Yes. Our Starter plan provides you with everything you need to start collaborating now. Create up to three of your own public collaborations and one private collaboration each year. Join an unlimited number of other in-progress collaborations.

Kompoz Plus, Premier and Pro members pay a small monthly or annual fee for more great benefits. Plus, Premier and Pro members can upload high-quality non-compressed audio files, create more public and private collaborations, enjoy featured collaboration placement, and publish finished songs. None of our plans have bandwidth or storage fees. For more information, please see our Pricing Plans page.

A mix is created by combining two or more Seps to produce a new audio file. The mix can be a final mix, a scratch (or idea) mix, or a re-mix.

Idea

When new files are uploaded to a collaboration, they are listed as ideas. This is a special status given to these files, to differentiate them from other tracks that have been reviewed and accepted by the collaboration owner. Once approved, idea tracks become regular collaboration tracks, and the contributor becomes part of the collaboration. If an idea track is instead archived, it means that the track is not approved as part of the official workstream for that collaboration, but might be useful in a spin-off or derivative work. Archiving a track is a nice way to acknowledging the contribution without dismissing it entirely (as would be the case in simply deleting it.)

Archived

Idea tracks that are not used as part of the final collaboration are typically archived, which moves them to a different folder/status without actually deleting the tracks.

3. Check the New Collaboration Activity Stream. If you're just getting started, jump on a collaboration of one of our Plus/Premium/Pro Members (look for the badge under their profile photo.) These members are typically the most active members, so you'll likely get a fast response and useful advice.

Check out our Top 5 tips for attracting collaborators. Below are some additional ideas and suggestions:

1. Get active in the Community. Endorsing other artists, 'liking' songs, commenting on the Community Page raise your profile. Post comments on other collaborations (be kind and constructive) .

2. Jump on someone else's song. This is by far the most important step. By doing so, you will meet other possible collaborators and see how someone else manages a project. We suggest jumping on a new song of a Plus/Premium/Pro member, as they tend to be the most active.

4. Include a mix track, even if it's a rough track or concept. (If you are a songwriter, upload a lyric document.)

5. Complete your profile. Artists want to know who they are collaborating with. Make sure your artist profile has a picture. It doesn't have to be a photograph or portrait -- any picture will do. And make sure your bio is complete.

6. Invite other artists. Send a Private Message to members whom you want to work on your collaboration. Establish a friendship by proactively reaching out. Be kind and undemanding. Here's a well kept secret: every day, more musicians join Kompoz. They want to collaborate. Look through the list and reach out to one. (Or more.)

7. Participate in other collaborations. This is so important, we're repeating it. Members are likely to return the favor if you take the first step.

8. Promote your song. Post a track in the Community Page, and invite others to join in.

The ownership of a song is determined by the artist. Specifically, when an artist creates a project he/she selects one of eight Creative Commons or traditional copyright licenses to govern the project. All contributions are bound by this license.

When the song is completed, the project owner can choose to Submit to Soundblend, our site for music sales.

This initiates an electronic workflow. The owner proposes what economic interest (splits) each collaborator will receive for their contribution as well as pricing. If each collaborator agrees, the song will be listed for sale and Kompoz will manage the splits (for SoundBlend revenue). If the collaborators don't agree, the project owner can i/propose different splits, or ii/ remove one or more collaborator(s) or iii/ not publish the song.

A Kompoz Endorsement allows members to vouch for the skills and talents of other Kompoz members. It is a quick way for people to recognize and reward musicians they have worked with or discovered on Kompoz. Endorsements serve to validate the strengths found on your own profile.

To endorse another user, visit that user's profile page and click the Endorse button that appears under their profile page. The user will receive a notification, and their profile will be updated automatically.

Collaborating

No! Kompoz is an open collaboration community. Artists create collaborations here because they want others to contribute.

New members often feel that it might be rude to upload an idea to another collaboration already in progress without first asking. Nothing could be further from the truth. Kompoz works when people jump in a submit ideas to other projects. Current members are hoping you and others will upload frequently.

Typically, your contributions will be very much appreciated. Initially, your track will be added to the collaborations as an Idea. The collaboration founder will get a notification when your idea is added, and s/he will either accept it or archive it for later consideration.

Anything that works for you. Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, Reaper, Studio One, Garage Band, Sonar, Cubase -- the choice is yours. When you upload your tracks to Kompoz, you will be uploading the individual audio files in one of the standard supported formats (e.g., MP3, WAV, WMA, AIF, etc). Check out our tutorial on choosing a DAW.

MP3, OGG and WMA formats are considered "lossy compression formats", designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio. Because the files are considerably smaller than uncompressed files, these two formats are popular for online use, where download times are an important factor. However, most audio purists feel that AIF and WAV files offer a better choice for digital encoding since the format offers a "lossless" storage method (all samples of the audio are preserved). FLAC is also a popular choice. Many of our artists prefer using the WAV format for maximum audio quality.

Private Collaborations allow you to collaborate away from the eyes and ears of the general Kompoz community. With Private Projects, you control who has access to the collaboration. You can create a secure access list, so that only selected individuals can participate. This is ideal for established and virtual online bands.

The creator of a finished collaboration on Kompoz selects Submit to SoundBlend from within the collaboration page. This initiates an electronic process where the creator proposes what economic share each collaborator receives, and the price(s) to be charged. If all collaborators agree (electronically), the song will be available for purchase in the store.

Artists earn a share of the net revenue on the sale/license of their songs on SoundBlend. Net revenue is sale proceeds less commission, taxes and transaction fees. Artists keep 70-90% of net revenue, depending on the Membership plan at the time of the sale.

Assume five single digital downloads are sold for $1.20 each. The released track has two collaborators: a Pro Member (who a has agreed to a 60% song ownership split) and a Starter Member (who agreed to a 40% song ownership split). The Song Ownership Split is decided upon by the collaborators through an electronic sharing agreement created at the time the song is published to SoundBlend.

First, Kompoz has no ownership interest in any collaboration (song). Collaborators agree on what percent of the song each owns.

When the creator of the collaboration initiates the sales process, an electronic workflow starts. The creator proposes what song ownership splits each collaborator will receive for their contribution. If each collaborator agrees, the song will be listed for sale on SoundBlend and Kompoz will manage the splits (for SoundBlend revenue). If the collaborators don't agree, the collaboration owner can either a) propose different splits, or b) remove one or more collaborator(s), or c) not publish the song.

Endorse other artists, 'like' songs, comment on the Community Page, complete your profile. Post comments on other collaborations (be kind and constructive).

2. Jump on someone else's song.

This is by far the most important step. We suggest jumping on a new song of a Plus/Premium/Pro member. By doing so, you will meet other possible collaborators and see how someone else manages a project. This tip is based on maxim "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." Quid pro quo. Tit for tat. It works.

3. Get your collaboration ready.

Include Album Art to attract eyeballs. Eye-candy works. Complete the Creative Brief. Include a Mix track, even if it's a rough track or concept. If you are a songwriter, upload a lyric document. Make sure you include sync tones. Adding sync tones makes it much easier for others to work with your tracks, and thereby increases the likelihood that others will participate.

4. Invite other artists.

Send a Private Message to members whom you want to work on your collaboration. Establish a friendship by proactively reaching out. Be kind and undemanding. Here's a well kept secret: every day, more musicians join Kompoz. They want to collaborate. Look through the list and reach out to one or more new members.